Military Times
U.S. center (mainstream trade press for the military community)
Background
The outlet began with Army Times, which Mel Ryder founded in 1940. Navy Times (1951), Air Force Times (1947) and Marine Corps Times (1999) were added later, and Defense News (1986) joined the group. Gannett bought the company in 1997. In 2015 Gannett spun it off with its broadcasting and digital holdings under the Tegna name, and Regent bought the publications in 2016. Under Regent, newsroom staffing shrank from more than 100 reporters and editors in the Gannett era, and there have been several rounds of layoffs. The most recent reported round came weeks after staff voted to unionize, and the Sightline Media Union filed labor-practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board. The papers are editorially independent from the Pentagon, unlike Stars and Stripes, which is Defense Department-funded. They have no strong partisan identity and mainly cover pay, benefits, personnel policy, operations and the defense budget. In 2026 its Pentagon coverage included Hegseth's push for $50 billion for drone production, the new Office of Religious Affairs, his prayer comments at a Pentagon service, protesters at an Army conference, and groups seeking records on a study of women in combat. These stories are mostly written in a straight news style. Its audience and advertisers are tied to the defense community, which readers may want to weigh when judging its coverage. I could not review a full record of its recent coverage, so this judgment rests on a small sample of headlines.
Sources
- Sightline Media Group (Wikipedia)
- Army Times (Wikipedia)
- Military Times Layoffs Reduce Vital News Source for Airmen
- Pentagon needs $50B for mass drone production, Hegseth says
- Pentagon launches Office of Religious Affairs, will report directly to Hegseth
- Groups seek clarity on motive behind Pentagon's study of women in combat
Profile compiled 2026-10-20; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.